Farmer leading 'death tax' splinter protest says they won't be burning tyres in the street
The farmer planning a splinter protest in London over the “death tax” crisis says they won’t take “the French farmer route of burning tyres in the street”.
It came after the National Farmers Union put a cap of 1,800 on the number of farmers allowed to attend a mass lobby at Church House, Westminster, on November 19 over inheritance tax reforms.
Many more wanted to take part, but the NFU urged those who hadn’t registered not to show up, saying they couldn’t risk people’s safety or alienate members of the public by holding “what could be an illegal demonstration”.
Farming Forum founder Clive Bailye said he was “totally in support” of the NFU’s event but added it was “very limited”.
Mr Bailye, an arable farmer from Staffordshire, said farmers had been “desperate for somebody to take the lead and organise something else”.
Mr Bailye has organised a separate rally to the NFU event on the same date, adding there were 2,000 registrations in the first two hours of the event being launched.
The farmer said he could see the number of attendees “getting past 10,000”.
Mr Bailye added: “We’re not wanting to take that European, French farmer route of burning tyres in the street and inconveniencing everybody.
“So we’re positively saying ‘don’t bring tractors, don’t cause problems, this is peaceful’.
"We want to keep the public on side. We don’t want to bring the capital city to a stop or disrupt roads.”
Mr Bailye said the changes in the Budget could lead to “the end of the family farm”.
He added: “I understand what they were trying to achieve – there has been some abuse of these tax reliefs, not by farmers, but by some wealthy investors. I totally get why they’re just not right and they needed closing up, but they’ve got their numbers wrong to do that.
“I’m hopeful the Government will sit down, actually do some proper numbers, and go and talk to some proper agricultural economists.”
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said the union was “supporting” the alternative event.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “What we cannot do is take responsibility for people in the streets.
“There is now a complementary event being organised by a group of farmers. We are supporting them."